75 responses for cycling ban

Comes to an end

Over 75 responses are being considered as to whether the cycling ban on Bridge Street should be extended to Sundays. With the consultation having shut on August 15, Peterborough City Council will now look through the replies from residents before deciding whether the ban, which currently runs between 9am and 6pm Monday to Saturday, should become week long.

Simon Machen, director of growth and regeneration for Peterborough City Council, said: “We received 75 individual responses to the consultation and a petition containing in the region of 125 names.

“We are now reading through all the responses to be able to fully understand the views of those who took part in the consultation.

“As you would expect, there are responses from those who are in support of extending the cycling ban along Bridge Street to seven days a week

“Surely an image of local people calmly cycling past the

town hall is exactly the sort of image we should

have?”

through the city centre.

Speaking when the consultation was announced in late July, Cllr Serluca, who is cabinet member for city centre management, said the plans made sense.

“There has been a substantial increase in trading on Sundays in recent years so they are now as busy as any other day,” she said.

“It is not acceptable to cycle on a busy pedestrianised street. It is not safe for the pedestrian or the cyclist.

“Cyclists should therefore dismount and push their bikes along Bridge Street which only takes a couple of minutes.”

One councillor who is opposed to extending the ban is the Liberal Democrat Darren Fower who started his own petition against it.

The petition currently has 126 signatures, and cllr Fower said: “I thought we were aspiring to become an Environment Capital?

“Surely an image of local people calmly cycling past the town hall is exactly the sort of thing we should have?”

Councillors are expected to discuss the consultation responses next month.